Behind the headlines by Dr Antti Roine

CLIMATE change is not the most pressing issue facing mankind today. Hunting down the perpetrators of the greenhouse effect not only wastes time but focuses our attention on the wrong issues. We should instead be looking for new energy sources, new technologies and new means to manage population growth.

The importance of ensuring sufficient energy for the future is almost impossible to overestimate, because energy directly and indirectly affects the price of virtually everything in society. Energy is needed throughout the whole production chain; expensive energy simply means expensive products, food, medicines, pure water and services, and it is also likely to keep wages and salaries down.

Affordable and sustainable energy can allow us to maintain a fair standard of living for the whole of mankind, and allow us to focus on preserving our natural environment, biodiversity and even world peace. Massive population growth is the main reason for the exorbitant energy demand. The birth rate must be regulated.

Identifying sustainable energy sources seems to be the main problem. The "right choice" is always easy to identify with hindsight, but it is possible to make more rational choices in advance. For example, we can easily say companies investing ten years ago in cathode ray tube televisions or photographic film misdirected their investment in mature and obsolete technology. A similar scenario is evident in the wind and bio-energy sector. Wind turbines and wind farms use technology that is today relatively mature, whereas solar energy still has tremendous development potential. The sun provides more power (1,366MW) per square kilometre than a large nuclear power plant. According to annual net estimates, the density potential of solar energy may be one hundred times greater than that of wind and bio-energy.

Wind and bio-energy production wastes valuable areas of land and spoils landscapes. The farming of bio-fuels in particular destroys natural carbon sinks and biodiversity, and also pollutes water systems with fertilisers and insecticides. Their real net efficiency may in fact be negative, especially if the entire life cycle and necessary reserve power plants are taken into account.

Solar cells require less land, as they can be placed in sunny deserts or on rooftops, where they will not destroy carbon sinks and pollute the environment. The entire energy demand of Europe could be satisfied with an area of solar cells that is 110x110km in size. Correspondingly, an area of 250x250km could supply energy to the entire world. Wind or bio-energy would require 100 times more land.

The time of cheap energy is not past; it is ahead of us. If we do not wish to be dependent on potentially unstable oil-supplying countries forever, waiting for them to gradually empty our coffers, we must invest in solar technology. We must increase the efficiency and decrease the price of different types of solar cells, heat pumps, insulation, energy storage and transportation methods.

Only a brave soul is willing to face the undeniable facts, which are out there for anyone with a sincere and logical mind to discover. We now need such people to overcome the world energy crisis. We need green idealists who will make our failures visible; we need open-minded citizens who will vote for change; we need wise politicians who will pass the necessary laws; and we need realist green engineers who will finally solve the problems.

• Dr Antti Roine is a senior research metallurgist and specialist in thermodynamics.